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| Courtesy of NASA |
- Has there even been a bigger satellite that has crashed down to Earth uncontrolled? When and what was it? Was anyone or any property hurt?
The other hot topic in physics is the discovery of neutrinos apparently moving faster than light. I read an account of this story at the Wall Street Journal. The article calls neutrinos "an oddball type of subatomic particle."
- What, exactly, are neutrinos. Where are they produced? Are they rare?
- Why is this result important? Why does it matter that they travel faster than light?
Do a little reading and share your findings and thoughts about these exciting new stories!
The neutrino is a tiny, subatomic particle that generally travels at a speed close to the speed of light. However, scientists recently managed to get the neutrino to travel at a speed greater than the speed of light. If this is true, then all of Physics basis, that light is the universal constant at 3.0 X 10^8 meters per second, will be shattered in one discovery. This really is an interesting discovery, because a similar experiment was done that showed results very much like this recent one. That neutrinos can move faster than light, however, the margin of error was too large for it to be considered a legitimate answer. These results back one another up, which makes this experiment more credible right off the bat. The neutrino is an interesting subatomic particle, it has 3 different types in which it exists, it has no electrical charge, and they can oscillate into different types on their own. They generally come from the sun. My only question, is what happens to the theoretical time travel only achievable through exceeding the speed of light. Well now that light may not be the ultimate speed, what do we do for time travel?
ReplyDeleteThis low flying satellite was put in orbit to monitor weather patterns and ozone depletion. It was projected to fall back to earth after 20 years in space but it held on. Once the fuel aboard the satellite was depleted it began its descent to earth. It was hard to track where it was going to land because it cannot be tracked and it's going at a abnormal pace. On Friday it finally crashed down in the pacific ocean between Hawaii and the U.S. It was reported that most of the satellite burned up and no one was hurt. For more information
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasa-satellite-debris-might-hit-us/2011/09/23/gIQA5VmiqK_story.html
Thanks for the comments this week!
ReplyDeleteDid they ever find any scraps from the crashed satelite?
ReplyDeletesatellite* sorry
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. It sounds like it crashed in the Pacific Ocean and will likely never be recovered.
ReplyDelete